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Something strange is afoot at the Googleplex. The ­smartest scientists in the tech industry are disappearing into the search engine's Silicon Valley offices and emerging on the payroll. The roster includes Vint "father­ of the Internet" Cerf and Kai-Fu Lee, a voice-rec guru whose hiring cheesed off former employer Microsoft so much that Redmond is suing. What'll the brain trust do? Hard stuff. Google wants to add location-specific searches and queries from mobile phones, and organize video, audio, and nondigitized media like books. These projects are "pushing the limits of what you can do with computers," says VP of engineering Bill Coughran. Google likely has another motive: recruiting. "Talent attracts talent," says Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch. "I don't get the impression that Vint Cerf is coming over and they're going, 'Thank god you've arrived.' But I have no doubt that having him there will attract lots of people."

Kai-Fu LeePresident of Chinese operationsLast job: Head of Microsoft's Natural Interactive Services DivisionKnown for: Working on a voice interface for WindowsSpeciality: Voice recognition and natural language